Ether Works' Altera (IC)

[daxtinator396]

Dax decides heading out into the market is a good idea as well. Maybe he'll find a time to help advance his earth magics. Could he useful for taking people alive. Stone makes good cuffs after all. So he set off into the busy market ward looking about for anything he could afford and could use in the coming task. He needed to be useful to these people... he needed to get over his sadness. Now was the time for action. He WAS going to get out of here. One day...

[Sortaix]

Salora was content with the way things were progressing so far, as she had yet to be ambushed. She was able to follow the path all the way to... its' end? Well, that was certainly unexpected, though the three pillars weren't entirely unexpected. There was bound to be some type of puzzle or something in here to keep people entertained. Well, she decided to take a moment to check out the three pillars that she found, and the circle at the end of the pathway. The pillars were obviously some kind of landmark, maybe warning signs. She then decided to head toward the pillar with a pyramid on it. The hand signal was a little ominous, as it might also be a "stop" or "turn back" type of sign, and the bat one probably indicated some sort of winged opponent. A winged opponent, wouldn't be good to have in an area with little visibility.

[MiscChaos]

Shima looks curiously at the winged woman, the oddity of the side piquing her interest. It shouldn't be so out of the ordinary, what with this being a fantasy game and all, but she supposed that the only winged people she'd see would be NPCs. Since this one is at a potions shop, clearly buying rather than selling, she guesses that isn't to be. Still, potions and antidotes are exactly what she's looking for, so she makes her way over to the potions shop, intending to browse their wares and get a feel for what kind of player the winged woman was. If she can help on her mission, then no use in not trying to recruit her.

[Inferi]

She had barely put the potions into her pouch when the merchant spoke up about why he had given her that look, and Kayleesa’s jaw dropped. Ok, that was one answer that she had not been expecting. Whatever she had been thinking of that she thought may have been the cause of the problem just flew from her mind when he said that, and she was left completely speechless. She didn’t look that bad, did she? She hadn’t designed the character model with sexuality in mind, so sure, maybe it resembled her from real life more than she had really thought, but that just made it worse. Extra baggage had just seemed…unimportant when she had designed the model, and she hadn’t wanted to be weighed down extra if the majority of what she was going to do was combat-related. It just seemed like it hadn’t fit the character that she had been envisioning, but had that been a mistake? It wasn’t like she didn’t have any curves at all, but they certainly weren’t anything like what most of the females of this world had.

“That’s not very nice.” she managed to get out, although she knew it sounded both stupid and illustrated how shocked she was by his statements. Now was hardly the time to be self-conscious, but she really couldn’t help it. It was something that came up in real life, too, her less-well endowed body always making her feel like she didn’t fit among the ranks of those that were the popular ones. That had better not happen in here, too, so she really hoped that this merchant was in a minority of people that would openly make comments about her body like that. Not to mention she now hoped she wouldn’t actually see any other angels, especially if they were going to make her jealous with every glance.

Trying to get herself together, especially when she notices out of the corner of her eye that someone else is walking up, Kayleesa pulls what composure she can together and said, her voice now showing that she was irritated rather than just shocked, “And no, I don’t have a sister. Even if I did, I wouldn’t introduce her to you.” That wasn’t quite true, since Kay had set up the character as having a family of some kind in the realms where the angels lived, but she had chosen the members of the family to be random, so she had no idea if she actually did have a sister or not.

With a sigh of irritation, she turned, and, muttering, “Asshole.” under her breath, started to walk away. Unfortunately for her, the newcomer was a lot closer than she had thought, and she bumped into her shoulder as she passed. Although Kay did have a reasonable excuse for that happening, it didn’t mean she was going to simply walk away.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” she said, stopping and looking over at the person she had bumped into. They appeared to be some kind of monk class, and the fact that it was a PC was easy to tell by the fact that, when she toggled the settings, Kay could see that the system identified them as a PC. For the sake of realism, she preferred not to have names appear above anyone’s heads, forcing her to introduce herself if she wanted to get their names. She didn’t mind having the settings allow her to differentiate between PCs and NPCs, though, since, to her, it did make a difference if someone was one or the other.

[MiscChaos]

"Not a problem." Shima says as the winged woman bumps into her. "You seemed irritated before we bumped into each other. Is it something I can assist with?" she figures why not get into the woman's good books while she can. The more allies, the better and, as she thought earlier, a winged PC is a rarity, especially one that decides that combat appeal is greater than sex appeal. Or at least that's how Shima rationalizes the woman's more realistic endowments when compared to others. Shima herself picked her look out more for combat than visual appeal herself, trying to find a balance between her body not being a hindrance in combat and being able to use it as a weapon if need be. She's a lot less willing to do the former now that her mission is to get out of the game, but that was the train of thought at the time. If she could do it over again, she'd make herself almost entirely flat.

[Reapergod36]

Vara stops and looks upon the homeless looking man. "Mortal, trouble you for where I am?" She asks being kind, just in case he is a druid. She grips her whip with unease at the possibility. She wouldn't want to alert this world to her presence, in such a vast way. As well as her body had not yet adapted to this strange world. She was weak, for the moment.

[Oroboros1337]

Misty Vale

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The environment around Salora is quiet as she moves forward, the fog swallowing up much of the normal sound that drifts over the wind like the movement of animals through the brush or the rush of distant water. Instead, the fog leaves her with her own little world to explore. The grass is particularly lush here, well watered by the omnipresent fog and giving a delightful splash of colour to contrast with the grey miasma that surrounds her.

As she moves forward through the fog, she draws closer to this pyramid pedastal. It seems to be made of a red stone, topping out at a little higher than waist height. She can start to see the shapes of more pedestals in the fog as she draws closer to the pyramid. When she gets close though, just before she can make out the shapes of the other two, something else demands her attention.

(Cunning test, Salora, 1d8 + 0 = 4, Fog Imp, 1d6 + 0 = 5)

She can be forgiven for not having seen it coming, for the fog imp appears behind her, literally forming from the fog itself. It seems the creatures have the ability to disperse themselves into a fog, blending perfectly with the environment. The fog imp is about half the height of a regular person, blue skinned and nude. It's face has the heavy brow and facial structure of an orc, it's ears pointed like an elf, and it's fingers end in claw tips. It swoops in to attack Salora. It's upon her before she has a chance to bring that bow around, what shall she do!

The Market Ward

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

When Dax enters the Market Ward, he finds himself joining that busy bustle of people. Merchants line the way, townsfolk move about their business, and off on the edge of the market, there is now a potion vendor with an angel winged woman and a martial artist having a discussion. A quick perusal of the other stalls shows Dax that as far as weapons and armour goes, he's got what he can afford for the money he starts with. All the basic starting equipment still runs about two gold each, anything higher priced costs more than he has. There are merchants carrying other things though, such as backpacks, torches, ropes, food, water, and of course, potions.


When Kayleesa tells off the potion merchant, he laughs and tells her, "Yeah, well I wasn't going to say anything until you asked, so you kinda brought that on yourself, didn't you. Truth hurts. You chose flat." His smile certainly lacks any kind of apology, instead it seems to keep that smugness of someone who has proven how much better they are. When Shinma joins in the conversation, he takes a look over at the martial artist and then says, "Forget angel sisters, I think I like you better. Hardly the best rack I've seen, but tight body. I bet you could keep going for hours, very sexy."

The Briar Wood

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The man stops where he was, his head perks up at hearing Vara speak to him, and he turns to look over at her. "Oh!" he starts at first, leaping to his feet in surprise. Then he takes in a deep breath and relaxes a bit, laughing at himself. "Oh my, startled me there, Champion. Here I thought you were some monster prowling the forest!" He leans his head to one side, a bit surprised by the question, and tells the strange woman, "You're in Briar Wood, surprised to see someone lost in it. Most people don't come this deep by accident. I'm Yelen, forest wanderer and dealer in valuable poultices. Got some good ones for sale if you are in need."

[MiscChaos]

Her attention is ripped from the winged woman to the merchant when he makes his lewd comment, immediately hitting him with a look so fierce it'd give death itself pause. "I think it'd be best if I took my business elsewhere. Before you end your day castrated with every bone in your body broken. And that's before I get into the REALLY exotic ways to bring one pain." she says, voice colder than the arctic. Self-control slipping, Shima leaves before she makes good on her words, muttering a quick "Excuse me." to the woman as she passes by. So that merchant was a complete and utter pile of excrement, but hopefully the next one she finds won't be. For their sake.

[Inferi]

Well, at least the person didn’t seem to be angered by what had happened. That was good. If they had been, it’s a lot less likely that Kayleesa would have been able to be polite, given what had just happened. She still couldn’t believe that someone would just say something like that. It was just as unbelievable in real life when a person made a similar statement, and although she hadn’t known what to expect from the world’s inhabitants, that was certainly not near the top of her list. Maybe this game was a lot more like reality than she had initially thought it would be, although she wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“No, there’s not much you can do about it.” she said with a sigh. “Just some-“

She didn’t have time to finish before the merchant made his next statements, and it made her mouth snap shut. Were there really people like this? Why put people like this…anywhere if you had the choice not to? First insulting someone, then acting like you were better just because they had asked a question that you had goaded them into asking by making the look very obvious. Not to mention his obvious come-on to the martial artist, although since Kay wasn’t sure if she wanted it or not that was hard to judge. Even if she did, though, it was unprovoked, which did nothing to help Kay’s opinion of the situation. It was this kind of person that gave people in general a bad name.

He was really lucky that Kay was one of the most even-tempered people around, or he probably would have been lying on the ground, gasping for air after her gauntlet had connected with his throat. Remarks like that about her body were one the few things that could really get to her, although people commenting like that on the figures of others got to her just as much because she didn’t like people talking like that about her and usually figured other people wouldn’t either.

The disbelief that she was feeling made it impossible for her to form words right now, and certainly showed on her face, probably to the amusement of people standing around. This was just ridiculous, and she was glad that the martial artist was as offended as she was.

Giving one last look back at the merchant that gave a look that showed her negative opinions of him, Kay quickly went after the martial artist. She wanted to introduce herself, since she had been about to before what had happened, but it seemed like a bad idea at this point. The woman looked even less happy that Kay, and the tone of voice the angel had heard made her a bit wary of trying to approach right now. It seemed that she was looking for potions, though, if her appearance at the merchant had been an indication, and since Kay wanted to grab at least one more it sort of made sense to go in the same direction as the woman.

[Noosie]

After a silence that seems to span days, the Dark Knight shrugs and slowly extracts herself from her seat at the table, trudging across the Ace's wooden floor to the stairs as the "Shield Kitty" heads out to the market and grumbling about lack of forethought as she goes. Taking a firm grip on one of the rails, she ascends to the second floor and heads off towards the room she'd used last night, hoping to retrieve her shackles before her victim woke up again.

[MiscChaos]

Feeling someone at her back and eager to correct this if the merchant is at that level of stupidity, Shima looks behind her to find a much more pleasant follower: the winged woman. Well, if the opportunity presents itself, who is she to turn it away?

"I apologize about my display with the... merchant." she begins, injecting as much loathing into the word merchant as she can. "I do not suffer gladly fools such as that. I'm assuming that he made similar comments towards you?

[Inferi]

“Yeah…” Kayleesa said with a sigh, her frustration towards that particular situation apparent. It was a lot easier to say something like that to someone who had just had the same experience, and the loathing in the martial artist’s voice made her stance on the matter quite clear. Kay decided not to mention that the ones towards her were more because of her lack of physical attributes, but it wasn’t something that would be all that difficult to figure out.

“And don’t worry about how you looked. You handled yourself a lot better than I did.” she added ruefully. She knew that her own reaction to it had been a lot less than impressive, and although she didn’t know how much of it the other woman had seen, the less she had the better Kay would feel. The dumbfound feeling that she had experienced wasn’t something she would really want to broadcast to the world.

Extending a gauntleted hand, she said, a smile appearing on her face, “I’m Kayleesa, by the way.”

[MiscChaos]

Having only come in at the end of the winged woman's transaction with the skeezy merchant, she has to take her word that she looked better than the woman herself, but she feels marginally less absolutely livid for having heard it. Seeing the woman, Kayleesa, extend her hand, Shima catches it with her own and gives it a brisk shake.

"Shima. A pleasure to meet you." she says in response. 'Actually, the most pleasant person I've had to deal with today.' she says internally. She'll keep that to herself though. Pulling her hand back from the shake, she asks, "May I ask what you were preparing for before being so... disgustingly interrupted?"

[Angel_Slayer_Alcatraz]

Lucy thought that the strange mushroom circle would be a great place to meditate so she sat at the very center and aloud her staff to levitate in front of her, she concentrated on locatiting the source of the evil presence transforming the wolves into evil beings

[Zender_Solarheart]

After getting everyone's "okay" on the little contest in Misty Vale, Greg does good on his deal with the bar owner, finishing the drink she laid out for him (I'm assuming Jo got around to that at some point), then says: "Thanks for the intel, Ms. Hawke. We'll put it to good use, and be back soon enough for more drinks, eh?" He cracks a friendly little smirk, then heads off to the Market Ward. Considering the warnings given about Reily's allies and traps, it wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up on a potion or two, and maybe a couple antidotes for poison...

[Inferi]

"Nice to meet you as well." Kayleesa replied as she let go and allowed her hand to drop to her side, glad that this woman was friendly even after what had happened. That had been her main worry in following, but since it had worked out fine she was glad she had gone with it. Allies in any world were never a bad thing to come by, and even people met on the street could turn into someone you might come to rely on. That was her hope, anyways, and it was how she had ended up being part of the group that had formed the Vanguard. Putting herself out there was something that she found difficult without something that she could use to link herself and the other person, and although the incident with the merchant had soured her day the fact that it had allowed her to meet someone else wasn't such a bad thing.

"Sure. I was going to go check out the Rift." she said, not minding at all about sharing what she had been going to do. It wasn't like there was anything secretive about what she was doing, so there really wasn't any reason not to allow it to surface in friendly conversation. Who knows, maybe she might even pick up some people to go along with. That was never a bad thing, since she highly doubted it would impede what she was going there for.

"I'm curious to see what it's like, both in the sense of the combat and what the church members there have to say about what might happen to it in the future." she continued. "It might have something to do with the progression of the game, and I'd like to know that if it does."

She realized after she said the last sentence that it may not ring well with this person, since she didn't know what their stance on the game was. If she had thought much about it, Kay would have left it out of what she was saying, but now that she had said it there wasn't much she could do besides hope this person either wanted to get out of the game as well or would take it as Kay simply wanting to have the knowledge just in case of future events.

[MiscChaos]

Shima nods at Kayleesa's plan of going to the Rift. "It's most likely something I myself will also do in the near future. Anything that can give me an edge in breaking out of the game, I will use without a second though. Well, ALMOST." she says the last sentence haltingly, thinking of the merchant from before. If she REALLY didn't give things a second thought, she might have gone along with his disgusting remarks just to get free or reduced price items off of him. That's something she wouldn't have done even when she was playing the game for fun. Now that there's a goal involved, things like that are REALLY off the table unless absolutely necessary.

"I myself was planning on going bounty hunting to gather like-minded people to complete my mission with and gain experience and funds at the same time. Only, I seem to have attracted a rather... unruly crowd. It's what I deserve for trying to recruit in a bar, I suppose." she says with a sigh and a shrug.

[Inferi]

So, this woman was one of the people that wanted to get out of the game as soon as possible? Interesting. That made her someone that Kayleesa felt she would probably want to know at a later date, when or if things in the game ended up getting serious. At a point like that, everyone that felt the same about the game would likely gain more by banding together than by attempting to do everything by themselves. Even if that wasn't an issue, though, anyone that felt the same way about the game was good to know, just in case an ally was needed at some point in the future.

When Shima mentioned that she had been recruiting in a bar, though, Kay could understand why she might be frustrated with the people she picked up. While bars were certainly one of the better places to find people to go on such quests, they were also the best places to find people that were just there for enjoyment, and far too many of them were drunk for Kay to feel comfortable. Although she had only been in taverns a few times, every time someone had felt inclined to reach over and try to pull one of her feathers from her wings. It didn't matter to her whether they were drunk or not, that hurt, and it usually ended with someone ending up sprawled in a heap on the floor. Not her, usually, and usually she didn't have to do the hitting, either. There were plenty of drunk men that were more than willing to try and defend her honor whether she wanted them to or not, and it was during such distractions that she made her way to the door and slipped out, leaving the tavern to dissolve into a fight.

"If you want to leave, and you're having trouble finding people that don't take it seriously, have you considered joining the Vanguard?" she asked. While it was true that there were people in the Vanguard that were just as bad as the average bar-dweller, enough of them were serious about it that you could usually find someone to take on what you were doing with you. And although she was not one hundred percent sure that Shima wasn't one of them already, Kayleesa was sure enough that she felt safe asking. The times that she had taken a look at the recruitment lists hadn't given her any sight of someone named Shima.

[MiscChaos]

Shima looks to the side as Kayleesa asks her question. The same thought had passed her mind so many times she can't even be bothered to attempt to count. Yet she comes to the same conclusion every time, the same roadblock preventing her from doing it unless it's an absolute last resort, even behind prostituting herself.

"I don't trust the Vanguard. I can think of so many methods for them to lord power over lesser players in their quest to seal the rift it's disconcerting. All it really takes is a few of their higher leveled players, or perish the thought, their leader, to really throw things further into chaos than the Heretics or Gankers can even dream of. Call me a tad paranoid, but I'd much rather see what I can do with a team I trust before I turn myself over to a group I do not. At least by that point, I come in with a name for myself to make them wary of crossing me." she explains, not looking at Kayleesa as she does. She knows her thought process sounds pretty irrational, but she can't help that feeling. Like a cloud of doom hovering somewhere above, she feels it.

[Inferi]

"Oh..."

Kayleesa wasn't sure what she had expected, since she knew a decent amount of people felt the way Shima had described, but she supposed that she hadn't really expected to get that answer just now. It made her feel a little sad, since she knew that she had no ulterior motives. All she wanted was to get out, and everything she was going to do, both by herself and for her guild, was going to go towards that goal. In her mind, it just made more sense for people with a similar goal to come together and work towards that goal, but she supposed that her vision might be skewed a bit in favor of the Vanguard. Shima's feelings that she should go with a team she trusted was similar to Kay going along with the other founders of the guild, since they were a team that she knew and did trust.

"Well, if any of them attempt to do something like that, they'll have to go through me first. We weren't founded just so someone could take the power and use it wrong, and I'm not going to let that happen if I have any choice in the matter." she said, a resolve in her voice that sounded a lot stronger than anything else she had said so far. She meant it. No matter what level she was, any of the other founders of the guild would have to go through her if they strayed from the path that the Vanguard had been founded for. Kay was going to do everything she could to make sure the guild remained true to the original ideal, for she felt that it was for the good of the world that this happen.

Realizing that what she had said likely made no sense to anyone but her, the angel quickly added, "Sorry, I probably should have explained before I said that. I'm one of the Vanguard's founding members. Don't worry about what you said, since I understand what you mean and it doesn't make me angry. I just...well, I just want to say that all I want to do is to get out, and so everything I do, whether it's for the guild or not, is towards that end, and I don't think any of the rest of us would act differently."

She paused again for a moment, then asked in a tentative voice, "You don't mind that, do you?" While she would understand if what she had said might make Shima feel a little uncomfortable around her, she really hoped that it wouldn't make it impossible for them to be acquaintances. She was a bit of an idealist, thinking of people in a positive light more often than not, and that likely showed in a lot of the things she said.